Lou de Laage encounters Niels Schneider on the way to work in Paris. When they were students at a French-language school in New York, he had a crush on her. Despite her marriage to Melville Poupad, an immensely successful financial advisor who rescued her from a terrible first marriage and continues to adore her -- and she him -- she begins an affair with Schneider.
For the last fifteen or 20 years, Woody Allen has been going over themes from his earlier movies and seeing how he can improve on them. Here, he seems to be revisiting MATCH POINT, but without much, if anything new to say. Instead he shows it at great length, observing all the romantic spots in Paris he can and sneering at the idle and the super-rich. And Allen has populated the this story with physical types fans of his movies will find familiar.
Besides not having anything new to say, Allen takes his time. 93 minutes is not an excessive length of time for a movie, but this one seemed to be very slow, ill-natured, and ultimately very simple and direct in where it was going. The only mystery that eludes me is long-time cinematographer Vittorio Storato's lighting. He fills the first half of the movie with yellow lighting; then when Poupad and Mlle de Laage renew their vows, the light turns bluish-white. Clearly there is a very simple code here, but what it is eludes me.
For the last fifteen or 20 years, Woody Allen has been going over themes from his earlier movies and seeing how he can improve on them. Here, he seems to be revisiting MATCH POINT, but without much, if anything new to say. Instead he shows it at great length, observing all the romantic spots in Paris he can and sneering at the idle and the super-rich. And Allen has populated the this story with physical types fans of his movies will find familiar.
Besides not having anything new to say, Allen takes his time. 93 minutes is not an excessive length of time for a movie, but this one seemed to be very slow, ill-natured, and ultimately very simple and direct in where it was going. The only mystery that eludes me is long-time cinematographer Vittorio Storato's lighting. He fills the first half of the movie with yellow lighting; then when Poupad and Mlle de Laage renew their vows, the light turns bluish-white. Clearly there is a very simple code here, but what it is eludes me.